U.S. agrees to restore scheduled flights to Cuba

The United States has agreed to restore scheduled flights to Cuba, the State Department announced Thursday, one year after President Barack Obama moved to thaw relations with the communist nation.

While U.S. law still bars travel to Cuba for tourists, the deal is expected to increase authorized travel between both nations, improve traveler choices and further people-to-people links from the U.S. and Cuba.

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Obama in a statement on Thursday touted the steps the U.S. has taken to normalize relations with Cuba in the past year and called on Congress to lift its embargo. In May, the U.S. removed the island nation from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, an act that led to the reopening of embassies months later. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cuba in August — the first secretary of state visit to the country in seven decades — for the American Embassy’s flag-raising ceremony.

Just last week, the U.S. and Cuba announced they would resume direct postal services between both nations several times a week, alleviating the need to rely on routing mail through a third country. Details of that deal are expected to be finalized in coming weeks.

“We are advancing our shared interests and working together on complex issues that for too long defined — and divided — us,” Obama said in the Thursday statement commemorating the anniversary of Cuba policy changes. “Meanwhile, the United States is in a stronger position to engage the people and governments of our hemisphere. Congress can support a better life for the Cuban people by lifting an embargo that is a legacy of a failed policy.”

“We continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but we raise those issues directly, and we will always stand for human rights and the universal values that we support around the globe,” Obama continued. “Change does not happen overnight, and normalization will be a long journey. The last 12 months, however, are a reminder of the progress we can make when we set the course toward a better future. Over the next year, we will continue on this path, empowering Cubans and Americans to lead the way.”

Airlines began praising the “historic” agreement on Thursday morning, and they announced their interest in adding routes to the island. “Interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation,” said Scott Laurence, JetBlue’s senior vice president of airline planning. “We will review the terms of the agreement to understand how JetBlue can expand from charter service to regularly scheduled service.”

United Airlines said in a statement the deal “will strengthen ties and economic development between the two countries. We look forward to offering service between our global gateways and Cuba as soon as we have approval to do so.”